All Elite Wrestling Executives Responded To Questions About Healthcare For AEW Talent

One of the questions about All Elite Wrestling since before the promotion was even confirmed to be real was “Would it provide health insurance for its wrestlers?” If you’re not as deep into the wrestling internet/don’t follow Nick Jackson on Twitter, you might not know that speculation about this started after the younger Young Buck quote-tweeted “I agree” to a tweet that read “Wrestlers need health insurance and they should get it through the company they work for” back in October 2018.

At the Double or Nothing rally, Cody told fans that AEW will “change the wrestling economy” and talked about wrestlers being paid more and that “happy wrestlers means happy fans.” Given that even the largest wrestling company in United States and the world, WWE, hires wrestlers as independent contractors and does not offer health insurance (though they do cover costs of medical treatment if “a wrestler is injured while performing“), AEW offering benefits would certainly be a change for the wrestling world

After the event, Wrestling Inc. asked Cody and the Young Bucks, all Executive Vice Presidents of AEW, if the new promotion will offer health insurance and benefits for the talent. Cody said that AEW will have the same policy as WWE regarding injuries sustained by wrestlers while performing for the company.

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The jackson’s have probably never run a company that provides insurance. The premiums will be so goddamn high for wrestlers. There’s a reason the wwe doesn’t offer, it would be astronomically high. Wrestlers (pretty well paid profession in the wwe) would have much lower rates going through the ibx or Aetna. I work in a kitchen and make pennies compared to these guys and for me and my child it’s over $600 a month. Wwe would be paying like 5k a month for randy orton’s family. INSANITY! But it’s not really the wwe’s fault. It’s the healthcare system. It sucks.

What about joining a union? Specifically, if a TV deal materializes, the wrestlers should be able to join the Screen Actors Guild (because they’d basically be television actors playing fictional characters, just like any other actor) …

the television show has to be recognized by sag and i doubt they think of wrestling as art that requires acting. funny because the biggest star in hollywood is a former wrestler and big dave is almost universally beloved and in demand for prestige genre flicks. i can’t wait for dune.

My hope is less about wrestlers getting insurance while working as much as this leading to some sort of wrestlers union. As the article said, the WWE (and now AEW) pick up the tab for wrestlers who are injured while performing for the company. I’d like to see some sort of collective bargaining like the pro sports leagues and SAG/AFTRA have.